Adjustable grille



Feb- 9, 1943- R. s. NELsoN Erm. l2,310,539

ADJUSTABLE/GRILLE i Filed Aug. 20, 1940" J1 16 C 14 l1f J1 Patented Feb. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT orFicE Raymond S. Nelson and Andrew F. Wintercorn,v Rockford, Ill., assgnors, by mesne assignments, to The Atwood Vacuum Machine Company, Rockford, Ill., a copartnership composed of Seth B. Atwood and James T. Atwood Applieationnugst 20, 194.0, serial No. 353,406

7 claims. (c1. 20-71) This invention relates to adjustable vgrilles for use on screen doors and windows, m-ainly for .protection of the screen against bulging.

Adjustable grilles of the present type are well known and it is the principal object of our invention to provide a new construction that is not only of better appearance than previous constructions but one which, by reason of special construction of the frame, can be adjusted by unskilled persons without danger of distorting the lattice-work and spoiling the appearance of the grille. In carrying out this important object of our invention, we have avoided pivotally connecting the rails at the corners, which was common practice heretofore, and have provided L-shaped the frame 8.

inserts or braces for the co-rners so that the corners have only enough. give to yallow easy adjustment of the grille but not enough give to permit an adjustment to such a degree where Vdistortion of the lattice-work would be apt to occur. In the grilles heretofore provided the corners of the frame had smaller sized rails entered in and pivoted to the larger sizedV rails, thus presenting unsightly shoulders which in accordance with our invention are eliminated by having the two meeting rails at each corner of the same size, two of the corners being formed -by the larger sized rails and the other two corners by the smaller sized rails, each and every corner in that way being of flush construction and giving a much neater appearance.

Attaching ears are required at the corners of the frame, through which screws or nails may be entered to fasten the grille to a door or window and it is another object of our `invrention'to provide a new construction whereby stronger attaching ears are provided, these ears in one form ofthe invention beingV appreciably reinforced by extensions from the L-shaped corner inserts. -Y

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in whichl Y Figure 1 is a -face View of an adjustable grille made in accordance with our. invention;

Fig. 2 is a View partly in elevation and partly in section of one corner portion of the `grille on a larger scale;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail along the lines of a portion of Fig. 2 showing a modied or alternative constructionior the frame.

Similar reference numerals are applied to'corresponding parts throughout the views.

The grille ofxour invention comprises a latticework 5 of crisscrossed interwoven wires' 6 and l' in -a screen door or window. Whereas non-adjustable grilles would require keeping in stock a large number of different sizes, these adjustable grilles necessitate keeping in stock only a small number of sizes, the grilles being adjustable sufflciently to adapt the same to use in a fairly large range of dili'erent sized openings.

As previously indicated, the present invention is particularly concerned with improvements in The lattice work 5 is of an old well'known construction wherein the wires 6 and 'I are crimped at regularly spaced intervals, as indicated at I0 and II, to interlock the wires by the interfltting of these crimped portions and 2 allow for pivotal movement of the wires relative to one another at these intersections in the eX- pansion and contraction of the lattice-work, the extremities I2 of the wires 6 and the extremities I 3 of the wires 'I being bent in opposite directions to keep them connected with the frame 8 into which they extend, as shown in Fig. 2. The frame 8 in accordance with our invention is formed fromiour L-shaped sections a, b, c, and d, inv telescoping relation with one another, sections a and c being at diagonally opposite corners and sections b and d at the other diagonally opposite corners. Sections a and c are formed by larger sized sheet metal rails I4 and I5, whereas sections b and d are formed from smaller sized rails I6 and I7, the rails I6 having an easy working fit inside the rails I5 and the rails I1 having an easy working lit inside the rails I4. The adjoiningrends of rails I4 and I5 are cut off on a 45 angle, as indicated at I8, and the adjoining ends of rails I6 and I I are likewise cut oil on a 45 angle, as indicated at I9. Joints at vIii and I9 it should be understood are flush, in-

asmuch'as each corner is formed by rails of the same cross-sectional dimensions. This makes for a much neater and more attractive appearance than has been possible with other construc- V tions with which we are familiar, these other as appears 'in Fig. 3 where the rail I1 is shown sectioned The L-shaped inserts 20 are also of channel-shaped cross-section as appears in Fig. 3, a web portion 22 of this channel being welded to the web portion 23 of the outer channel in fastening the parts together at the Corners, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. 'Ihe side Walls 24 and 25 of the channel section rails Illl1 all have inwardly bent flanges 26 and 21 defining therebetween longitudinal slots 28 through which the extremities of the wires 6 and 1 of the latticework project into the frame 8. The inserts 20 at all of the corners of the frame fit closely into the adjoining ends of the rails and are welded in place after the rails have been threaded onto the lattice-work. These inserts 20 are preferably each formed from a single piece of sheet metal between dies to the shape shown and are, therefore, inexpensive and strong, though light. These inserts or braces 20 have just enough give in them to permit the rails deviating a few degrees one way or the other from the normal 90 relationship shown, as required in the adjustment of the grille as hereinatfer described. However, Ait is obvious that these inserts or braces will not allow nearly as much angular movement of the rails relative to one another as where the rails are pivotally connected, as in previous constructions. In other words, the present frame is of semi-rigid construction as distinguished from the articulated form previously provided.

The web portion 23 of the one of the two adjoining rails at each corner is extended, as shown at 29 in Fig. 2, and the web portion 23 of the other of the two adjoining rails is also extended and bent at right angles, as indicated at 30, and welded to the extension 29, whereby to provide a stronger attaching ear 3l at each corner of the frame 8 than has heretofore been provided on adjustable grilles of the present type. The ear 3l has an opening 32 for the screw or nail used in fastening the frame to the screen door or window.

In operation the grille can be adjusted easily by sliding the rails of the frame in whichever direction adjustment is desired, being careful not to move two corners at one end of the frame too far in either direction before giving a corresponding adjustment to the other two corners at the other end of the frame. cient give in the present construction of the corners to make the adjustment easy, and on the other hand with the present semi-rigid construction of the corners of the frame 8, the operator soon finds he cannot readily adjust the corners at either end of the frame as far as would be permitted where the corners are formed by pivotally connected rails, as in previous constructions, and, as a result, there is avoided the danger of an unskilled or unpracticed operator seriously damaging the grille by too much adjustment of one end of the frame before making a compensating adjustment of the other end. Such faulty adjustment of a grille, permissible with the old construction but practically impossible with the present construction, while it did not necessarily render a grille unusable would nevertheless seriously detract from the appearance of the grille because of the distortion of the latticework brought about by the peculiar adjustment of the frame. A distorted lattice-work no longer has the wires of one set in accurate parallelism and the wires of the other set in accurate parallelism, but instead the wires of one set appear to converge toward one remote point and the There is sufl wires of the other set appear to converge toward an opposite remote point. With the grille constructed in accordance with our invention, the purchaser is assured of having the lattice-work undistorted after whatever adjustment of the grille may be necessary to t the opening in the screen door or window to which the grille is to be applied.

The construction shown in Fig. 4 is similar to that shown in Figs. 2 and 3, but has a slightly different form of L-shaped insert 20a in which a lug 33 struck from the web 22 of the channelsection insert, as indicated at 34, is entered between the extensions 29 and 30 and the web of the channel-sectioned frame rails I6a and l 1a, and is welded or otherwise suitably secured to the extensions 29 and 30 to provide an attaching ear 3Ia for each corner of the frame 8a of increased strength while at the same time materially increasing the strength of the frame as a whole.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of our invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

We claim:

1. In an adjustable grille, an expansible and contractible lattice-work of interwoven crisscrossed wires, and a rectangular frame surrounding said lattice-work adjustable in length and width with the lattice-work, said frame comprising hollow side rails of channel-shaped crosssection in slidable telescoping relation on all four sides of the frame with the web portion of all of said channel-shaped rails outermost and having inwardly bent anges on the edges of the side walls of the channel section defining a longitudinal slot to receive the lattice-work, whereby the frame is slidably attached to the edges of said lattice-Work, and semi-rigid elbow members fitting inside the channels of the side rails at the corners of the frame and secured thereto for semi-rigidly connecting the adjacent ends of said rails at said corners so that angular adjustments of the adjacent ends of said rails either way from a normal relation incident to adjustment of the grille is limited by the give of said semirigid elbow members at the corners of the frame whereby to prevent injurious distortion of the lattice-work.

2. In an adjustable grille, an expansible and contractible lattice-Work of interwoven crisscrossed wires, and a rectangular frame surrounding said lattice-work adjustable in length and width with the lattice-work, said frame comprising hollow side rails of channel-shaped crosssection in slidable telescoping relation on all four sides of the frame with the web portion of all of said channel-shaped rails outermost and having inwardly bent flanges on the edges of the side walls of the channel section defining a longitudinal slot to receive the lattice-work, whereby the frame is slidably attached to the edges of said lattice-work, and semi-rigid reinforcing e1- bow inserts in the corners of said frame of channel-shaped cross-section having the side walls thereof abutting the side walls of the channels of the side rails, said elbow inserts being secured to the adjacent ends of said rails at said corners so that the rails have freedom for only a small angular adjustment of the adjacent ends of the rails either way from a normal 90 relation to permit easy adjustment of the frames contractible lattice-work of interwoven criss-A crossed wires, and a rectangular frame surrounding said lattice-work adjustable in length and width with the lattice-Work, said frame comprising tubular side rails in slidable telescopng relation on all lfour sides of the frame and slidably attache-d to the edges of said lattice-work, and L-shaped corner inserts for said frame having the arms thereof entered in and secured to the adjacent ends of said rails to form the corner portions of the frame, said inserts each being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and having a lug struck from the Web portion of one arm in longitudinal alignment with the web portion of the other arm, the frame side rails each also being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and each having a lug formed as an extension of the web portion, these lugs being secured to the opposite sides of the aforesaid lug to form a three-ply attaching ear on the corner of the frame.

4. In an adjustable grille, an expansible and contractible lattice-work of interwoven crisscrossed wires, and a rectangular frame surrounding said lattice-work adjustable in length and width with the lattice-work, said frame comprising tubular side rails in slidable telescoping relation on all four sides of the frame and slidably attached to the edges of said lattice-work, and L-shaped corner inserts for said frame having the arms thereof entered in and secured to the adjacent ends of said rails to form the corner portions of the frame, said inserts each being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and having a lug struck from the web portion of one arm in longitudinal alignment with the web portion of the other arm, the frame side rails each also being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and one of the adjoining rails at each corner of the frame having a lug formed as an extension of the web portion and secured to one face of the aforesaid lug to form a reinforced attaching ear on the corner of the frame.

5. A sectional, adjustable, rectangular frame of the character described comprising tubular side rails in slidable telescoping relation on all four sides of the frame, and L-shaped corner inserts for said frame having the arms thereof entered in and secured to the adjacent ends of said rails to form the corner portions of the frame, said inserts each being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and having a lug struck from the web portion of one arm in longitudinal alignment with the web portion of the other arm, the frame side rails each also being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and each having a lug formed as an extension of the web portion, these lugs being secured to opposite sides of the aforesaid lug to form a three-ply attaching ear on the corner of the frame.

6. A sectional, adjustable, rectangular frame of the character described comprising tubular side rails in slidable telescoping relation cn all four sides of the frame, and L-shaped corner inserts for said frame having the arms thereof entered in and secured to the adjacent ends of said rails to form the corner portions of the frame, said inserts each being of channel crosssection with the web portion outermost and having a lug struck from the web portion of one varm in longitudinal alignment with the web portion of the other arm, the frame side rails each also being of channel cross-section with the web portion outermost and one of the adjoining rails at each corner of the frame having a lug formed as an extension of the web portion and secured to one face of the aforesaid lug to form a reinforced attaching ear on the corner of the frame.

7. In an adjustable grille, an expansible and contractible lattice-work of interwoven crisscrossed wires, and a rectangularframe surrounding said lattice-work adjustable in length and width with the lattice-work, said frame comprising hollow side rails of channel-shaped crosssection in slidable telescoping relation on all four sides of the frame with the web portion of all of said channel-shaped rails outermost and having inwardly bent flanges on the edges of the side walls of the channel section defining a longitudinal slot to receive the lattice-work, whereby the frame is slidab-ly attached to the edges of said lattice-work, and semi-rigid reinforcing elbow inserts in the corners of said frame of channelshaped cross-section having the side walls thereof abutting the side walls of the channels of the side rails, the edges of the side walls of the channel-shaped inserts having abutment with the inner side of the inwardly bent flanges on the edges of the side walls of the channel-shaped side rails so as to position the inserts with their web portions in abutment with the inner side of the web portions of the channel-shaped side rails at the corners of said frame, said elbow inserts being secured to the adjacent ends of said rails at said corners so that the rails have freedom for only a small angular adjustment of the adjacent ends of the rails either way from a normal relation to prevent undesired distortion of the lattice-Work.

RAYMOND S. NELSON. ANDREW F. WINTERCORN. 

